


Ready For It

by beckonade



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 12:18:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13998192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckonade/pseuds/beckonade
Summary: She's the last person Nia wants to see. (Set after Nia overhearing Alexa and Mickie talking about her last week on Raw, 3/12.)





	Ready For It

Nia still hasn't calmed down. She's not sure she ever will, after seeing that, _hearing_ it, her best friend saying what she said, so careless and cruel, like it was nothing at all. No one speaks to her backstage, quickly getting out of her way, not meeting her eyes, every expression a horrifying mixture of fear and pity. And Nia doesn't stop until she's found somewhere she can be alone, hidden from sight at the end of a hallway behind some spare lighting equipment. She leans back against the wall, hands on her thighs, leaning forward slightly, breathing in and out.

She doesn't hear anyone approaching, but when she looks up, she's there, standing, silent. "What?" Nia snaps.

Asuka smiles, eyes glittering, as enigmatic and unreadable as ever, and Nia would perhaps like to hit her, but she's going to save that for Alexa. "She hurt you," Asuka says, pronouncing every word, deliberate.

"Yeah," replies Nia, because what else is there to say? "She did." She shrugs, tears prickling at her eyes, and it's only the thought of how humiliating it would be to fall apart in front of _Asuka_ that stops her from crying. "I thought she was my friend."

"She was not your friend." Asuka shakes her head. "You," she says, pointing at Nia, then back at herself, "and me, we don't have _friends."_

"I guess not." Nia tries not to sound bitter, because it's not as if this hasn't happened before, being betrayed like this, yet somehow, she never seems to learn. 

"We," Asuka goes on, "are too strong, too _powerful_ for them." She smiles again, and Nia lifts her head a little.

"Maybe," she concedes, and Asuka nods, reaching up, smoothing Nia's hair back behind her ear. From anyone else that might be a tender gesture, but Asuka's only presumptuous, efficient, and when she's done, she doesn't lower her hand, pressing it to Nia's cheek, palm cool on her skin.

"You are beautiful," says Asuka, softer now, and Nia's breath catches tight in her throat. She's not so naïve to think that this is any genuine concern or feeling on Asuka's part, but that, Nia suddenly understands, doesn't mean it can't be good. Maybe that's the secret of it, to not being fooled, to protect yourself from being used: to stand straight and tall, freed from doubt as you _use_ someone right back. 

_"So_ beautiful," Asuka whispers, gazing upwards, and as Nia bends her head to kiss her, she breathes in, hurt fading away, remade into something new.


End file.
